Month: December 2019

When ASUS took the wraps off two new Chromebooks late in 2019, I was a bit skeptical. In my review of both the ASUS Chromebook C425 and the Flip C433, I was honestly just baffled by their introduction into the ASUS Chromebook lineup. Sure, ASUS didn’t have a ton of devices in the portfolio, but the Flip C302 and Flip C434 were basically legendary Chromebooks and many users’ favorite devices. Why would you mess with that formula with a couple knock-off type Chromebooks at similar prices?

When both of these devices surfaced, they came with price tags that were way, way too close with the Flip C434 and both offered too many concessions and trade-offs versus that universally-loved device. The C425 dropped the 360-degree hinge, the touch screen, and the all-aluminum build. The Flip C433 opted for a lesser screen, a flimsy build, and added a very questionable magnetic closure that is still a confusing choice.

Of the two, the C425 was by far my favorite, even though at the time of my review I couldn’t exactly recommend it. After all, at that time it was $499 and the Flip C434 was consistently on sale for $559. That price gap was far to close to make the sacrifices of the C425 tolerable. However, I suggested back then that ASUS might be playing the ‘on sale’ game with these new models, and that looks to be exactly what they are doing.

You see, the C425 debuted with a $499 price tag, but that was likely never the real price ASUS wanted for this machine. Instead, like many other manufacturers, this thing was priced to go on sale. Sales like these bring Chromebooks from head-scratching prices down into the range where they make more sense and fly off shelves. While I don’t think the C425 is worth the $499 MSRP, I 100% do think it is worth the $319 or $279 price it has fallen to at Amazon and Walmart. At these prices, I think you’ll find great value in a Chromebook that is not only fast but very enjoyable to use.

You can check out the full review here or watch it in the video below, but you’ll hear me comment about how this Chromebook grew on me as I used it: and that was with me dropping $499 for it. At $319 or $279, this Chromebook becomes an absolute steal. There are differences in the two models, so you need to know what you are after going in. The $319 model at Amazon is the model we tested with a Core m3, 8GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The device at Walmart for $279 is the same, except with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

For me, I’d go with more RAM over more storage, but you can make that decision for yourself. Feel free to take a look at our helpful buying guide if you aren’t sure which is best for you. Either way, you’re going to end up with a Chromebook that performs really well, looks great, and is a joy to use. At these kind of prices, that just feels like a win all around.

Chrome is the most popular mobile browser, with over 60% market share as of August 2019. This comes as no surprise considering the lightweight browser offers great features, speed, and ease of use. Not to mention the fact that it comes pre-installed on most Android phones. But even if it didn’t, people usually go out of their way to use Google’s popular browser.

With this in mind, we wanted to bring some of the coolest Chrome for Android tips and tricks to your attention. While Google’s mobile browser is known for its simplicity, it has plenty of features (both official and experimental) that will improve your experience. These can be hidden in places most people don’t look, so let’s shed some light on them with these Chrome for Android tips and tricks list.

1. Enable dark mode on Chrome for Android

Developers are bringing dark mode to their Android applications, and it comes as no surprise Google is doing the same. Whether you want less strain on your eyes or just like the look of dark mode, it’s easy to change the look of Chrome for Android.

Open Chrome.

Hit the 3-dot menu button on the top-right corner of the screen.

Select Settings.

Select Themes.

Select Dark.

2. Enable Data Saver on Chrome for Android

Not only will this make your browsing faster, but it will also help cut down data consumption. We all know how expensive data can be. Even if you have an unlimited internet plan, most carriers will throttle you if you get too wild with your data consumption. Why not optimize websites for mobile use and save data?

How to turn on Data Saver on Chrome for Android:

Open Chrome.

Hit the 3-dot menu button.

Select Settings.

Select Data Saver.

Toggle the setting on.

3. Sync bookmarks, passwords, history, and more across devices

Chrome for Android is all about the internet, and therefore, the cloud. Google makes it possible to sync most of your Chrome data across devices. This includes bookmarks, history, passwords, open tabs, credit card info, and more. It will also analyze your usage data to provide better predictions.

Open Chrome.

Hit the 3-dot menu button.

Select Settings.

Under Account, select Sign in to Chrome.

Follow instructions to sign in.

You can now access Sync and Google services to customize options.

4. Preload pages for faster browsing

Preloading pages is a Chrome feature that will proactively load sites you are likely to click on. This means a page will often be loaded in the background before you decide to go into it. It makes the whole experience much faster using cookies, but it can also waste data you otherwise wouldn’t use. This is not cool if you are on a tight internet budget, but those who don’t mind wasting megabytes will enjoy the added speed.

Open Chrome.

Tap on the 3-dot menu button.

Select Settings.

Select Privacy.

Toggle Preload pages for faster browsing and searching on.

5. Switch your default search engine on Chrome

Google is considered the king in its category, but if, for some reason you want to use another search engine as default, Chrome for Android gives you the option to switch it.

Open Chrome.

Tap on the 3-dot menu button on the top-right corner.

Select Settings.

Select Search engine.

Select your search engine of choice.

6. Swipe to switch tabs

Something as simple as switching tabs can get annoying when it requires a few taps. The experience has been simplified by Google; you can switch tabs with a simple gesture. Swipe from side to side in the address bar area. This action will let you seamlessly navigate all your tabs.

7. Horizontal tab switcher

If you still want to use the regular tab switcher, but would prefer something other than the vertical configuration, you can opt for Chrome’s experimental horizontal tab switcher. This will make Chrome’s tab switcher more similar to Android’s app switcher. It is nicer for getting a good look at other pages, and seems better organized.

Open Chrome.

Type Chrome://flags into the address bar and press enter.

Search for “Enable horizontal tab switcher”.

When the option shows up, tap on the drop-down menu and select Enabled.

8. Enable Tab Groups to keep pages organized

Another convenient feature to keep your tabs better organized is tab grouping. This essentially allows you to make tab folders and keep all your browsing neatly categorized.

Open Chrome.

Type Chrome://flags into the address bar and press enter.

Search for “Tab Groups”.

When the option shows up, tap on the drop-down menu and select Enabled.

Tap on Relaunch.

9. Interact with emails, phone numbers, and addresses you see online

It’s annoying to copy and paste emails, phone numbers, and addresses to use them in other apps. Safari for iOS turns them into links for reaching out to people or navigating. While Chrome for Android still doesn’t have this nifty feature, there is something similar that beats copying and pasting.

When you see a phone number, email, or address, simply long press it. A floating bar with options will appear. The first one will give you the option to use this information with Gmail, the Phone app, or Google Maps.

10. Zoom all the pages

Zooming in and out of websites is not always an option with mobile-optimized pages. This can be an issue if you are dealing with a badly designed website, want to look at something up close, or have vision problems. Chrome for Android makes it possible to force zooming on all pages which prevent this action. Follow these steps and zoom to your heart’s content.

Open Chrome.

Tap on the 3-dot menu button on the top-right corner.

Select Settings.

Select Accessibility.

Check the Force enable zoom box.

11. Kill auto-playing videos and audio

Autoplay can get annoying, especially if what you want is peace. Those of us who frequent libraries and other quiet places know the struggle. Thankfully, there is something you can do about it with Chrome for Android. Follow the steps below to disable autoplay.

Open Chrome.

Tap on the 3-dot menu button on the top-right corner.

Select Settings.

Select Site settings.

Select Media.

Select Autoplay.

Disable the feature.

12. Speed up downloads with Parallel Downloading

This Chrome for Android trick can be useful when downloading large files. Parallel downloading essentially divides the file in multiple parts for simultaneous downloading. This technique increases overall speeds, making your life less stressful.

Open Chrome.

Type Chrome://flags into the address bar and press enter.

Search for “Parallel downloading”.

When the option shows up, tap on the drop-down menu and select Enabled.

13. Add a website shortcut to your home screen

Some websites don’t have apps, or maybe you would rather not use them. Pages and web apps can often work better and a shortcut in your home screen would be the ideal solution. Chrome for Android makes this possible with a few taps.

Open Chrome.

Go to your website of choice.

Hit the three-dot menu button.

Select Add to Home screen.

Type name (or leave the default one) and select Add.

You can drag and drop the icon where you wish. Alternatively, select Add automatically to let Android do the work.

14. Use Reader Mode to speed up Chrome for Android

Reader mode will simplify a website and provide a cleaner experience for those who want to focus on text. Images, videos, font variations, and other unnecessary elements will be slashed. This mode can be forced on in the Chrome flags settings.

Open Chrome.

Type Chrome://flags into the address bar and press enter.

Search for “Reader mode triggering”.

When the option shows up, tap on the drop-down menu and select Always.

15. Move the toolbar to the bottom of the screen

We are used to seeing the home button, tab switcher, and three-dot menu button next to the address bar, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Chrome for Android makes it possible to bring those tools to the bottom of the screen, where they can be more easily reached. Because this gives the toolbar more room, they also add search and sharing buttons to the experience. It may take some of your screen real estate, but having those shortcuts handy is mighty convenient.

Open Chrome.

Type Chrome://flags into the address bar and press enter.

Search for “Chrome duet”.

When the option shows up, tap on the drop-down menu and select Enabled.

Tap on Relaunch.

16. Swipe down to refresh a website

This Chrome for Android tip may seem mundane to many, but it is a neat trick not all people know. Reloading a page can be done in multiple ways, but the simplest and fastest one is to simply perform a long swipe from top to bottom.

17. Request a desktop site on Chrome for Android

Mobile sites are best on Chrome for Android only when they are properly designed. Bad mobile websites are common, and many don’t offer all features available in their desktop counterparts. You can ask Chrome for Android for a desktop site at any time by following the steps below.

Open Chrome.

Go to your website of choice.

Press the three-dot menu button.

Check the box next to Desktop site.

18. Change text size on Chrome for Android

Having trouble reading tiny text? Maybe the text is too big and occupies all your screen space. Here’s how to fix the problem.

Open Chrome.

Tap on the 3-dot menu button on the top-right corner.

Select Settings.

Select Accessibility.

Under Text scaling, drag the swiper left or right to change font size.

19. Translate any website on Chrome for Android

Chrome for Android has Google Translate integrated, and it can be used on any website written in one of the many supported languages.

Open Chrome.

Go to your website of choice.

Press the three-dot menu button.

Select Translate.

A bar will appear at the bottom. Hit the three-dot menu and select More languages to add the languages you know. This menu also has more options you should consider.

Go back to the bar and select the language you want to see the website in.

20. Use Incognito Mode to browse privately

Most people should know what Incognito Mode is, but we thought it was important enough to bring it up just in case. Browsing in Incognito mode will keep your internet activity private. Nothing you do in Incognito mode will be stored in your history or phone.

Open Chrome.

Tap on the tab switcher button next to the address bar.

Tap on the 3-dot menu button on the top-right.

Select New incognito tab.

Browse away!

These Chrome for Android tips and tricks should keep your browsing experience much more pleasant. Enjoy!

AMD’s Polaris 20 seems to have received a second wind with MSI preparing a new variant of the Radeon RX 580 Armor. This is most likely an attempt to clear out stock of remaining Polaris GPUs in favor of upcoming Navi GPUs.

MSI’s Latest Radeon RX 580 Comes WIth Revised Cooler Design – Polaris Lives On in 2019

The new Radeon RX 580 Armor is a redesigned version of existing Polaris graphics cards by MSI such as the original MSI Radeon RX 580 Armor and MSI Radeon RX 580 Armor MK2. MSI has deviated from the initial white and black color scheme to an all-black fan shroud.

Similarly to previous models, the new Radeon RX 580 Armor features a dual-fan design and a full cover aluminum heatsink, and its size has been increased over its predecessor for improved heat dissipation. Underneath the heatsink, MSI has redesigned the PCB. MSI has also modified the I/O bracket, though the card will continue to carry three DisplayPort connectors as well as an HDMI port. Power is delivered through a single 8-pin PCIe power connector.

Two Years Later – How Does Polaris Fare?

AMD’s Polaris GPUs are still viable budget options in 2019 and are available at fairly cheap prices compared to their MSRP. The Radeon RX 570 is still a great 1080p contender if users are willing to slightly dial down visual settings from Ultra, and is commonly found at a lower price when compared to the GTX 1650. The RX 580 is very well capable of 60 FPS at 1080p. Newer titles may tax Polaris GPUs a bit more, but the vast majority of games over the last three years have proven to perform well on AMD’s Polaris GPU offerings. AMD’s 8GB RX 580 is the primary competitor to NVIDIA’s GTX 1060 6GB and may be found online at a reduced price while providing 2GB more VRAM.

What About Navi?

AMD’s mid-range Navi 14 GPUs have been announced, though the exact date Navi 14 GPUs will become available to the consumer market is unknown with the most recent rumors pointing to 12th December as a hard launch. Currently, the Navi 14-based RX 5500M is available inside the MSI Alpha 15 and Apple has announced a 16″ MacBook Pro variant with a 4GB GDDR6 AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with an optional 8GB VRAM upgrade.

The latest Honor MagicBook 15 and the MagicBook 15 early adopter version (with Linux) are now officially on sale. The laptops will be available in China on the Huawei Mall, Honor Mall, Jingdong Mall and Tmall Mall.

The Honor MagicBook 15 series was officially released on November 26th. The laptops retain the typical all metal body design of the MagicBook line while upgrading the display to a larger 15.6-inch panel.

Honor also reduced the upper and side bezels, which meant the camera had to be hidden within the keyboard. Numbers wise, the MagicBook 15 sports an 87% screen-to-body ratio for an immersive user experience. Additionally, the display has been certified by Rheinland for Low Blue Light; thus it’ll help reduce users’ eye fatigue.

HONOR MAGICBOOK 15 GOES ON SALE, STARTING AT 3099 YUAN ($440)

Two selling points of the original MagicBook – the thinness and lightness – have been brought to the 15 version. Thanks to the three-dimensional stacking structure of the fuselage, the laptop does indeed only weigh 1.53kg for a thickness of 16.9mm.

The Honor MagicBook 15 is available in a Windows version packing an AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor; with a quad-core eight threads architecture and built-in Radeon Vega 8 Graphics graphics card. We then find 8GB of dual-channel RAM and up to 512GB of SSD storage.

Honor’s MagicBook 15 also adopts the Honor Shark Fin 2.0 cooling technology. A system that utilizes thinner and higher density fan blades with an S-shaped blade design to optimize the airflow that comes in out of the laptop.

Finally, as far as pricing is concerned. The Honor MagicBook 15 Windows version Ryzen R5 / 8GB / 512SSD will be sold for 3899 yuan ($550); the MagicBook 15 early adopter version (Linux) Ryzen R5 / 8GB / 256GB SSD will go for 3299 Yuan ($470); while the Ryzen R5 / 8GB / 512SSD early adopter version (Linux) will cost 3599 yuan ($510).

It is worth mentioning that on the day of the first sale, consumers can also enjoy a discount of 200 Yuan ($28) for the purchase of the device; this means we have an actual starting price of only 3099 Yuan ($440).

Japanese manufacturing giant, Sony, is currently struggling with its smartphone business. However, this is not stopping the company from releasing new devices. According to recent information, the company will release a new Xperia Compact (compact) mobile phone. The Sony Xperia Compact will come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor and a 5.5-inch screen.

Recently, there has been news of the new Sony Xperia mobile phone which will officially arrive at MWC 2020. In addition to the flagship models, there should also be a mid-range version. From recent reports, all new smartphones from Sony will use 21:9 screens. Thus, the new Compact phones will also use 21:9 screens. The size of the Sony Xperia Compact is about 138 × 60 mm.

There are reports that Sony may close its smartphone business. Speculations from a few months ago suggest that Sony’s smartphones are no longer for the global market. According to Sony’s latest sales figures, the company seems to be selling little or nothing. For several consecutive quarters, Sony barely sells a million devices. While the Japanese manufacturer was able to sell about one million Xperia smartphones every quarter in the previous year (2018), it sold just 900,000 phones in the first quarter of 2019 and only 600,000 in the second quarter. This sparked rumors that the company’s smartphone business is going down

Sony’s Smartphone sales:

2017: 13.5 million

2018: 6.5 million

2019: 2.5 million (forecast)

We’ve been saying the same thing for months at this point: Google may have stopped making in-house tablets, but plenty of Chrome OS tablets are on the way and in large number. It could be pretty easy to look at the current Chromebook landscape with Google’s grand tablet exit and conclude that Chrome OS is going to simply stick to clamshell and convertible laptops.

If we weren’t tracking multiple devices in the ‘Kukui’ family of Mediatek 8183 powered tablets, detachable ‘Hatch’-based devices, and the small fleet of Snapdragon 845 Chrome OS tablet/detachables, we’d be inclined to think the window for Chrome OS tablets was closed, too. However, there’s far too many new devices late in their development cycle for that sort of conclusion to hold any water. Sure, we thought we’d see some of them before the holidays, but it looks more likely CES will be the beginning of the new wave of Chrome OS devices.

Today, we’re adding a bit more fuel to that fire by way of a Reddit post from a user we’ve seen prior. u/Bottleneckbreaker has posted a survey for Reddit users to participate in, allowing a select few to test a new Chrome OS tablet device. This survey is in the same vein as one he posted about 8 months ago offering users to test a new Google Home device that would eventually become the Lenovo Smart Clock. With this past survey and his official ‘Verified Lenovo Employee’ badge, we’re inclined to believe this is a legit post.

For those of you about to run over and enter, it is already too late. Just like with the Smart Clock, u/Bottleneckbreaker has already removed the survey after getting the requisite number of takers. Sorry about that, but you can still be excited about the fact that this happened with the Smart Clock about a month or two before its official launch, so we can feel confident that some of these new Chrome OS tablets will start hitting shelves some time in January if not before.

With all the devices we have eyes on in the ‘Kukui’ family (9 in total right now), this means we could see a small avalanche of new Chrome OS detachable/tablet units within the next handful of weeks. Sure, we’re a tad bummed they didn’t make it for the holidays, but it really feels like 2020 is going to usher in a new wave of Chrome OS with tons of detachables, tablets, convertibles, and clamshells from nearly every manufacturer. With tons of extended features like fingerprint readers and pen support looking to be the norm for these new devices, it is all very exciting to think about as we approach the end of 2019, so make sure and stay tuned.

AMD’s CPUs are again winning big against Intel, not just in current sales, as we’ve previously seen, but also sentiment in terms of future processor purchases that consumers might make, at least according to a new report.

The survey from the European Hardware Association (EHA) canvassed the opinions of tech enthusiasts across Europe (specifically folks who read EHA publications), and found that they “expressed a distinct preference when asked about the next desktop processor that they would buy, with over 60% choosing AMD”. Obviously that leaves 40% in the Intel camp.

This is a big change from last year, when the picture was reversed, and 60% preferred Intel. It shows the major impact that Ryzen 3000 processors have had in 2019, grabbing a huge slice of the desktop enthusiast CPU pie as we’ve seen in various different stats and reports that have emerged throughout this year.

Another way to look at this is that AMD has gained 50% more supporters in the last year, which is a huge leap, without a doubt.

EHA chairman Koen Crijns noted: “The last three years has seen AMD gain a lot of momentum in the enthusiast segment. With the Ryzen series of CPUs, AMD has eliminated any lingering performance gaps, while offering a great price/performance ratio.”

Of course, Intel has not only had to fight a battle in terms of that price/performance value proposition offered by AMD, but has also been plagued by production and supply issues with its Core family of CPUs.

Talking graphics

The EHA survey also found AMD had gained ground in the GPU arena, too, although as other reports have indicated, the company is still way behind Nvidia.

Almost 23% are in favor of AMD’s graphics cards, which obviously still leaves Nvidia winning big, but AMD is at least making progress, considering that back in May, only 19% of those the EHA surveyed chose AMD over Nvidia.

As ever, we have to be careful about exactly how much we read into just a single report, but it’s no real surprise that tech enthusiasts are starting to more heavily skew towards AMD when it comes to processors.

WHATSAPP has a hidden feature buried deep within its settings menu on Android and iPhone that every user should know about.

Did you know WhatsApp has a menu that lets you see exactly how many text messages, GIFs, stickers and more you’ve sent each and every one of your contacts? Well, you do now. Here’s how to load up this hidden feature.

Eager to see who you spend the most time chatting to? Open up WhatsApp and head to the settings menu – the iPhone app has a tab at the bottom dedicated to settings while Android users will need to press the three small buttons at the top right-hand corner of the chat menu to load it up.

From there, press the tab that reads Data and storage usage then press Storage usage. You’ll then be presented with a page that lists your contacts and has a file size next to them.

The largest files are positioned at the top, this is most likely the person you’ve sent the most texts, photos and videos to, but not always. Certain contacts will be particularly high if you’ve sent them a ton of photos and videos from last night’s house party for instance, even if you’ve never exchanged that many texts with them before.

The list offered by WhatsApp is quite comprehensive – on each individual page you’ll be able to see a swathe of information ranging to text messages to location shares.

Here’s a full list of data you’ll be able to view:

• Text messages

• Contacts (shared)

• Locations (shared)

• Photos

• Stickers

• GIFs

• Videos

• Audio messages

• Documents

Your list will either completely surprise you or meet your exact expectations. It might also make you realise just how much time you’ve spend chatting with friends and family on WhatsApp…

The new feature is not only great for answering WhatsApp trivia, it’s also good for storage management too. Users have the ability to delete individual chats if they’re clogging up too much space on your phone.

There you have it, a neat WhatsApp feature you probably didn’t know existed. Now we’ll leave you to work out who your WhatsApp bestie is…